Resorts Will Probably Bounce Back Faster Than Cruise Vacations

Prediction: Resort Stays will bounce back faster than cruise vacations.

It is expected that resort based vacations will probably bounce back faster than cruise vacation. I believe that cruises will be slow to rebound after the virus due to the excessive negative press the cruise lines received.

Although air travel may be as dangerous as boarding a cruise ship, there really has been no confirmed cases of people getting coronavirus on an airliner. This is primarily because people are usually at their destination or home at the time they show any symptoms and linking it back to air travel is very difficult.  I suspect that air travel will not be viewed as dangerous as cruising but that is not necessarily true. I think people will be more apt to board an airliner than board a ship near-term.

Resorts offer guests the opportunity to also exercise social distancing better than a cruise ship. Guest can find a quiet area of the beach, dine alone or with only family and in general have more room to spread-out and avoid crowds.

Some of the newer ships, with all of the amenities plopped on the top decks (waterslides, go-cart tracks, Skydiving machines and more) have limited the amount of free deck space, making out door lounging areas crowded.

On the flipside, the cruise lines know that their very existence relies on their reputation and positive press. I suspect that cruise ships will be one of the cleanest and most sterile environments around. Crew member will be scrubbing, sterilizing and polishing all surfaces.  Crew member will dispense all food at buffets and serving stations - Don't dare touch that serving spoon. The cruise line's know that even a report of the norovirus (stomach flu) will be blown out of proportion and cause people to flock to other vacation options.

I suspect that older passengers - the life blood of many cruise lines, will also be hesitant to sail on cruise ships. This will cause cruise lines to change their marketing strategy to have a wider appeal to various age group of passengers. The new marketing drive further creativity and new amenities. I also think that you will see improved medical staff onboard the cruise ships to be better equipped to handle illnesses onboard.

It will be very interesting to see how the industry bounces back and the challenges they will face over the next 1-2 years.